Federal court rule in Middle TN barring lawyers from speaking publicly on cases scrapped
Lawyers trying cases before Middle Tennessee's federal district court can now speak on social media and to news media about their cases without fear, thanks to a May 15 ruling ending a lengthy court battle.
Judges from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee removed a local court rule that previously prevented attorneys from discussing their cases with the media and the public.
The change was the result of a lengthy federal lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm on behalf of Nashville civil rights attorney Daniel Horwitz in October 2024.
'This is a huge win for the First Amendment in Middle Tennessee,' Institute for Justice Attorney Jared McClain said. 'Attorneys have a right to discuss their cases, and the public has a right to know what the government and its contractors are doing wrong.'
Horwitz filed the lawsuit after U.S. District Court Judge Jeffery Frensley issued a 2022 gag order barring Horwitz from speaking on social media and to news media against Brentwood-based private prison company CoreCivic.
At the time the gag order was put in place, Horwitz served as the attorney for the family of Terry Childress, an inmate who died in February 2021 after his cellmate assaulted him in CoreCivic's Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville. The case was later settled.
Since the order, Horwitz filed numerous lawsuits against the company, but was unable to discuss any of them with news media because of the rule.
In January 2025, Horwitz's case was dismissed for lack of standing. But in April, amid an appeal, the court proposed a change to the administrative rule that would have expanded the circumstances in which a judge could restrict a lawyer's speech.
More: Speech rights of lawyers in Nashville federal court could change amid gag order fight
While the appeal decision is still before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the rule itself has been scrapped after the Institute for Justice submitted a public comment outlining the ways the proposed rule still violated the First Amendment.
Now, the rule simply states that attorneys are bound by Tennessee's rules of professional conduct, which the Institute for Justice said 'was always the case.'
'I'm thrilled that my First Amendment rights have been vindicated, but more importantly, I'm thrilled that I can resume informing the public about civil rights abuses across Middle Tennessee,' Horwitz said. 'This important victory also would not have been possible without the dedicated civil rights lawyers at the Institute for Justice and Southeastern Legal Foundation, to whom I will always be grateful.'
Ryan Gustin, senior director of public affairs at CoreCivic, said the company respects 'the judicial process in which amendments to local rules are reviewed and modified."
"We also stand by our belief that matters involving litigation, and legal rules, policies and procedures should be decided within the court system and not in the press or social media,' he said.
The ruling comes as a federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice continues into the conditions at CoreCivic's Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, due to allegations of extensive understaffing, violence, contraband and sexual misconduct, according to officials.
The USA TODAY Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Middle Tennessee federal court rule on lawyers speaking out scrapped
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